Wednesday, 19 November 2008

The Netherlands has a lot of bicycles, and as a result also a lot of cycle theft. However, most theft is in the bigger cities. Assen is a very safe place to park your bicycle. The insurance companies know about this stuff, and cycle insurance costs half as much here as in Amsterdam.

Here, you'll find that people are generally quite happy to leave their bikes secured just by the inbuilt lock which prevents the rear wheel from turning. They will leave what they've bought from one shop on their bike while they visit another, that removable lights / panniers / bike computers etc. are left on the bike and don't go missing.

While there are very many cycle racks, there is never enough formal bicycle parking. What's more, even though the racks are outside virtually every shop, people often want to park their bikes even closer to their destination than the bike racks. As a result, on busy days (which means pretty much every day except Sunday) there tend to be as many bikes parked "wild" as in racks.

There are no cars on any of the streets shown here, so there is plenty of room for bicycles and a relaxed atmosphere for cycling. It wasn't always like this. The city centre was once dominated by motor vehicles. However, changes were made in the late 1970s / early 1980s to exclude cars from the city centre and the result is the vibrant city you see today.

We've many types of cycle parking here, and the most popular racks are those which support the bike by the front wheel. The problems with the inverted U shape "Sheffield" type racks is that they don't stop the bike from falling over, they don't allow bikes to be parked very densely (which is important when there are a lot of bikes) and they get in the way of one side of the bike. For people trying to pack large panniers on both sides with shopping they don't work very well while racks which support the front wheel do.

I'm not talking about "wheel benders," but racks which support a greater part of the radius of the wheel and actually work. When they also have a loop through which you can put a cable then the frame can be secured as well. Not that many people bother here.

Finally a view of a different kind of bicycle parking. There is a beach right on the edge of the city. We're quite a way from the coast, so it is a lake surrounded by trees. I took this photo on a hot day in May this year. The cycle parking stands at the beach were of course overflowing, and many bikes were parked in with the trees instead.

4 comments:

I see that in some ways cyclist and motorists are the same. They want to park close to where they are shopping and can't be bothered to walk.

Of course that is one of the advantages I find to bicycling as opposed to driving a car. I can park just about anywhere and closer. Though when I drive I tend to park far away from my destination so I can walk.

It's true. It's important to get close. I find that a lot of people will cycle distances that they might as well walk, in the same way as in another place they might drive distances that they might as well cycle or walk. I think it's innate human laziness (in thought as well as action) that we do this, and that's yet another reason why cycling has to be made more pleasant and more efficient than driving if we want people to switch modes.

It is always possible to get closer to shops here by bike than by car, and that makes cycling more convenient, as you can see here.

A long time ago when we used to drive into town in the UK we also used to park our car quite a long way from the centre and walk. However, that was mainly to avoid the cost of parking.

Study Tours

You've read the blog, now see everything with your own eyes. Since 2006, hundreds of people have joined us on our Cycling Study Tours.
First hand experience is better than reading. Book a tour to see how policy and infrastructure have attracted people from all walks of life to cycle:

Support this blog

Thousands of hours of work have gone into compiling the information on this blog but we do not receive grants and we do not ask for charity to support us.

You can help to make further blog posts possible by buying proven bicycle components from us:

Copyright and Licensing

This blog is free of charge to read and for most individual usage including reasonable "quoting" of its contents. However, neither the text nor the photos on this blog are in the public domain. To find out more, please read our copyright and licensing information.

Search This Blog

Loading...

Non-sponsored links

Experience for yourself how policy and infrastructure in Assen and Groningen have led to the high cycling modal share in this area:

If you like this blog please support us so we can continue. We sell quality bicycle components:

Cycling holidays in Assen and Drenthe, where this blog is based:
All the youtube videos from this blog:

About us

A cyclist in a cycling family living in the capital of the cycling province of the world's greatest cycling country.
I was born in the UK, lived for over 8 years in New Zealand and have lived in the Netherlands since 2007.
I organise cycling infrastructure study tours, run an online bicycle shop, arrange cycling holidays and write a popular blog about cycling.
My email address is avftcp@hembrow.eu